LEGALIZING MARIJUANA COULD HELP FIX OUR ECONOMIC WOES

California has the chance to become the first state to legalize the
recreational use of marijuana this November, allowing Californians to
possess up to an ounce or harvest their own garden of marijuana
measuring up to 25 square feet.

According to a recent poll issued by SurveyUSA, 56 percent of
Californians support the legalization of marijuana. Supporters
collected nearly 700,000 signatures, far surpassing the 433,971 needed
to petition for the bill.

The recent legislation is being spearheaded by Richard Lee, founder of
Oaksterdam University in Oakland, America's first college dedicated to
cannabis trade, which opened its doors in 2007.

Oaksterdam provides students with training in cannabis
industry.

Its faculty is mostly comprised of recognizable attorneys within the
legalization movement.

Proponents claim legalizing pot could save the state of California
$200 million per year by reducing public safety costs and would
generate a substantial amount of tax revenue from the sale of the drug.

Even though the majority of Americans do not approve of marijuana use,
nationwide support for legalization has increased from 27 percent in
1979 to 44 percent in 2010, courtesy of a 2009 CBS News poll.

If the numbers continue to grow at this rate, the minority will be the
majority in a matter of years.

This is not the first time California has created national attention
due to marijuana laws.

In 1996, it became the first state to allow the use of cannabis for
medical use, and now 13 other states have followed.

Many Americans worry that increased crime will come with the influx of
legal users and that the war on drugs should continue.

But previous research shows that the current war on drugs has done
nothing but put more money in the pockets of illegal drug dealers.

According to the book "Public Policy and the Quality of Life" by
Randall G. Holcombe, professor of economics at Florida State
University, efforts to hinder distribution of drugs into the United
States give dealers the opportunity to reduce quality, drive prices up
and increase profits.

As an example, Holcombe wrote:

"Assume that cocaine goes for $1 a gram and that the total market at
this price is 100 grams of cocaine, meaning that the total revenue
from the sale of cocaine is $100 ... Now assume that the government is
successful in eliminating 10 percent of the market, reducing the total
supply to 90 grams. Because the buyers are relatively insensitive to
price changes, the price might now increase to $1.50 per gram. Selling
90 grams at $1.50 brings in $135, compared to $100 for selling 100
grams at $1. Although fewer grams are being sold at higher prices, the
total revenue from the sale rises, because the price increase more
than compensates for the reduced volume of sales."

Dr. Jon Gettman, marijuana reform activist and public administration
professor at Shepherd University, in his 2007 article "Lost Taxes and
Other Costs of Marijuana Laws," placed the illicit marijuana market in
the U.S. at just under $113 billion.

With 28.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product going to taxes, state and
federal government lost out on $31 billion in tax revenue.

People need to realize how much legalizing the mildly harmful drug (as
compared to other illicit drugs) would help our economic situation.

Taylor Winstead, a freshman engineering major, said "our nation could
make a lot of money off the sales of (marijuana), and our government
would also not spend as much money trying to crack down on it."

To a lot of people, it is about morality and what is best for
youth.

Yet, the over-consumption of alcohol is vastly celebrated in the
United States. Companies that produce alcoholic beverages, such as
Budweiser, Miller and Coors, are leading sponsors for TV programming
and in magazines.

These firms all promote immoral behavior equal to marijuana.

And when it comes to the youth, more "factual" education needs to be
presented at an early age - "factual" because the propaganda that
floods our schools and TVs about the dangers of drug use is far from
reality.

Kids need to know the truth.

When they realize that smoking a joint won't get you pregnant or make
you jump off buildings, a sense of trust is lost.

Issues of morality or health concerns do not compare to the money our
government spends arresting and incarcerating nearly 60,000 marijuana
offenders a year, according to a study published in the Federation of
American Scientists "Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin."

More than a quarter of offenders are incarcerated for personal
possession with no drugs other than marijuana involved.

Efforts will continue to legalize marijuana, even if legislation
doesn't pass in November.

And with the number of supporters growing every year, it won't be long
until Lee at Oaksterdam gets to say "Mission Accomplished."